Paris is still the City of Light!!

In 1966 I went to France for a BYU Study Abroad program in Grenoble.  We spent the first two weeks of our journey in Paris.  I met a few girls who were in my hotel and we got up each morning and took the subway to a stop, got off, went up and explored that area all day.  We did this for 2 weeks and it was so much fun.  Some would say we missed a lot of the sights - and we did.  But we also saw life in Paris, and that was better!!

 

I did manage to meet up with some friends from Granada Hills - the Keysors - I used to babysit for them!!

 

I'm thinking this shot is from London, not Paris - but it adds to the foreign flavor, right??

 

Gloria was a special friend that I connected with.  She really knew her French - but she was from the South and so her accent was not so good.  I did not know my French that well, but I did have a great accent.  She would tell me what to say, I would say it.  We were a team.  Although after a while she said, "You are getting all the compliments for your excellent French!"  So I told her to tell me how to give her the credit - and I'd memorize the line!!  She just laughed.

So many great memories of a wonderful time and place.  Paris, the city of love, of light, of laughter, of longing, of literature and art and beauty.

Paris, now wracked with violence and carnage, sorrow and grief.  She will rise up.  Her people will survive.  But it is so heinous that such a crime can even occur.

Pray for Paris.

Vive la France!!

Flashback Friday and Throwback Thursday all rolled into one!!

It was 49 years ago at this time that I was in France, attending the University of Grenoble as part of a BYU Study Abroad program.  I'm shown here with Gloria Anderson - we met up on this trip and had some great times together - I have no idea where she is now - and with a name as common as hers, it might be tough to track her down.  There are good reasons to stay in touch with folks who are part of your lives.

 

I think this is Gloria, leaning out of our hotel room in Paris.  We left in January of 1966, and spent 2 weeks in Paris before heading on to Grenoble.

 

During Spring Break, we traveled to Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Holland - and I hung out a lot with Lynn and Pattie - both of whom I still keep track of!

The trip was a great experience in my life - one that was life-changing in some ways.  I will have to re-read my journal from that period and do some reflecting!!

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away

It was a long time ago indeed! But it was right around now, 46 years ago, that I took off for the great adventure called BYU Study Abroad!! I had never even been in an airplane - I took a Greyhound Bus up to Provo for the start of the great adventure!! A 22 hour plane ride was my introduction to air travel!!

I have been cleaning out cupboards and closets - oh, the things I've come across - geodes, old glasses, Cabbage Patch shoes, letters, pictures, bric-a-brac of all sorts, colors, and sizes. And enough address stickers to go from here to the moon and back!

And my Grenoble Scrapbook! Someday I will print off the slides I took on that trip - that will be a hoot.

Meanwhile, I am truly going to toss the My Little Ponies - no one, I repeat, no one seems to be the least bit interested in them. And the video tape collection - it's gonna go too.

(Note to Phoebe - Kay Lineback is the girl on the end in yellow - next to her is Lynn Stiefel and next to her is Pattie Nieman. I'm on the other side of the photo.)